A CITIZEN'S BLOG

This blog is dedicated to the thoughts, musings, opinions and whatnot of Michael Berquist, Attorney-At-Law, about his favorite baseball team, the Philadelphia Phillies.

Friday, April 22, 2005

So we lost to the Rockies ...

... on Wednesday. I'm embarrassed too. What I'm preaching right now is patience. The Phillies are in a much better position then they were last year. Remember where they were after game 16 last year?

Standings after Game 16:

2004Marlins 12-5Braves 9-8Phillies 7-9Mets 7-11Expos 4-14

They were three and a half games behind the Fish and looked terrible. Sure they aren't hitting well (12th in slugging? ... 14th in ISO?), but Thome is due for a big breakout like he always does when April is over. This team is actually pitching decently well. Here are the standings this morning:

2005:Marlins 9-7Nationals 9-7Braves 8-8Mets 8-8Phillies: 8-8

I think the Phillies are even doing better than in '03:

2003Phillies 9-7Expos 9-7Braves 8-8Marlins 8-9Mets 6-10

Mind you, the Phillies won 86 games both years. This team can win 90+. Just be patient.

I think that Lieber pitched another strong game last night and that Thome's first home run of the year was a strong sign: he could finally be breaking out of his slump. (And it a good time with a slate of road games against division foes coming up.) So things are good. Not great, but good. They took two of three from the Braves, split a series with the Mets and split a series with the Rockies. We all would have preferred to see them sweep both games, but the Phillies are .500 and are in a good position.